Alligator Crocodile
Feelings or fears of being attacked or overwhelmed, possibly from within oneself, or by a powerful mother – i.e. ones internal dependence upon mother. There is so much about ourselves we do not know, and when a new aspect of us, or a much larger power within us emerges – like and great creature from our depths – we react to it with fear. See Autonomous complex
The alligator and crocodile often represent a hidden form of treachery, apparently harmless until it opens its mouth to eat us, such as that of a person spreading malicious rumours or trying to undermine us in some way. Another attack from deep within can be from repressed emotions.
But the alligator or crocodile as a dream creature is not the same as an external alligator. It is an enormous creature from your own depths, your inner self or core self – the part of you that you are not aware of and are frightened of. See core
The alligator or crocodile is similar to the serpent and depicts the power of the emotions, influences and experiences emerging from the unconscious. If you do not relate to your unconscious urges constructively, conflict can occur. Then you may feel fear of these forces within you – fear of being swallowed, or dragged into dark feelings. That is, of being carried away, or possessed, by fears, urges, ideas, arising from within, or fear of the irrational.
The Egyptians worshipped a crocodile as a guide to the dead in the underworld. It represents not only a threat, but also a wealth of wisdom about unconscious things. It possibly represented the forces of the unconscious because of the observation of the crocodile emerging from hidden depths to lay its eggs on the river bank. In this sense the crocodile or alligator in some dreams represents a personal confrontation with eternity. Depending upon the dream, the crocodile may well depict your fears about your inner hugeness. When we meet this it shows a personal awareness of merging with the many lives held in the collective unconscious. It is illustrated by the Christian idea of being cells in the body of Christ. We retain individual life, but know ourselves as part of an eternal life. This is possibly a natural stage in ageing, as our physical prowess and motivations fall away, this immense inner life begins to open to us. See The Life Will
As some people keep pet alligators, there might be a very personal meaning if one has actually kept an alligator.
Example: Now I looked at the large pool where the river surfaced. A woman swam in it, and was going to enter the tunnels. As I watched I saw some huge crocodiles swim toward her. With great speed and confidence she swam away, obviously being able to match the threat. A group of people in the pond, through their group strength, also dealt with the crocodiles.
Example: I can remember that in the dream another person and I, a male but very indistinct and shadowy, were facing mythical creatures in some sort of odyssey. A strange sort of crocodile or alligator type creature was supposedly attacking me. I had mixed feelings about this. Partly I felt there was nothing to fear about the creature, but another feeling was that it might be able to do some damage. In fact it was biting me across my chest, but all I felt was a very strong tickling feeling that made me laugh.
Example: Now a huge unknown creature began to enter into my awareness. I felt the presence of an enormous creature rising to the surface of something like a swamp or a body of water. At first I thought it might be a whale, but as I paid attention to what was happening it defined into a huge crocodile.
This huge creature looked at me and said, “Mathew, join me.”
I laughed at this because it was so huge, and with so many associations of swallowing things, that I said something like, “What do you mean join you? Don’t you mean that you want to eat me?”
The creature replied to me, “No. No, it’s not like that, I’m just like a submarine. I have all these lives in me. I have many, many lives in me. I am life. I contain the many. You can swim this ocean alone Mathew, if you wish. Or you can join me, you can join the many. You can always, if you choose to live your independent life again and leave us.”
I laughed here because I had the image of me being independent, stripping off, diving over the side of the boat into the ocean and swimming off. It is something I have often done in the sea, swimming long distances alone, or off to an island out to sea, by myself.
I began to give myself to that great creature which I now understood as the collective unconscious, the unity of lives. It felt as if it was absolving me, much as I had experienced earlier on. (One of those strange and beautiful, and also moving coincidences just happened. I am reading this in using voice recognition, and it is proving to be very accurate. But in the sentence where I said that I felt it was – and the word was supposed to be absorbing me – the software used the word absolving. And here I am again, back in the ocean, weeping as I know there is no judgment on the life I have led so alone and cut off.)
Useful questions and hints:
What does the alligator represent to me?
What do I know about them?
Am I feeling threatened or carried away by any fears?
In what way is my intuition or awareness reaching beyond myself ?
Do I feel myself part of a larger whole?
See See Summming Up – Reaction to the unconscious – Secrets of Power Dreaming
Comments
Last night I had a very involved dream in which an alligator (I think it was my pet) needed to be taken from one place on a canal to another. During most of the dream, I was struggling to keep its mouth shut so it did not attack and kill anyone. There were several times where the alligator almost bit a person or a small dog. At one point in the dream, my husband who is a pilot came so we could fly the alligator away from the public setting we were in. He had a flimsy airplane and the alligator and our other pets (dog and 3 cats) took up most of the space in it. My husband flew the airplane into the water and I thought it was going to sink but it eventually came up and out of the water. My feelings for the alligator were both fearful and protective. It was exhausting moving though crowds with the alligator and trying to wrestle it to hold its mouth shut. Do you have any input into this vivid dream?
Jocelyn – Seeing that the alligator is your pet you are half way to transforming your dream. Because no dream animal is actually harmful. Please see http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing it explains so much.
Dreams are created by our emotions as we meet our own primeval self, and your fear created the awful tension. But here are some examples of what you can do with ‘scary’ animals.
“A strange sort of crocodile or alligator type creature was supposedly attacking me. I had mixed feelings about this. Partly I felt there was nothing to fear about the creature, but another feeling was that it might be able to do some damage. In fact it was biting me across my chest, but all I felt was a very strong tickling feeling that made me laugh. We were going to descend into the tunnels under the ground, and at this point I suddenly realised, probably because I was partly awake, that the whole drama and all the strange creatures were projections of my own thoughts, anxieties and fears. So all I needed to do was to enter into what was, after all, the unconscious, and turn off the energy that was projecting the imagery. When I did this it was as if a great deal of noise was suddenly quiet and a lot of feelings became silent. It was a very impressive experience.”
“One of the things that arose was a way of explaining what we are opening to in lucidity. It is that wonderful mystery of life and love that leads a crocodile mother to carry her young in her mouth without harming them. It is the wonder that leads birds to fly hundreds or thousands of miles to an exact spot to mate again with their dedicated partner. It is what gives us life.”
I was back in the big space of the mind, and I sensed a huge presence, something big that I could not yet define. I realised that most of my life I had explored this ocean of the mind alone.
“Now a huge unknown began to enter into my awareness. I felt the presence of an enormous creature rising to the surface of something like a swamp or a body of water. At first I thought it might be a whale, but as I paid attention to what was occurring it defined into a huge crocodile. This huge creature looked at me and said, “Tony, join me.”
I laughed at this because it was so huge, and with so many associations of swallowing things, that I said something like, “What do you mean join you? Don’t you mean that you want to eat me?”
The creature replied to me, “No. No, it’s not like that, I’m just like a submarine. I have all these lives in me. I have many, many lives in me. I am life. I contain the many. You can swim this ocean alone Tony, if you wish. Or you can join me, you can join the many. You can always, if you choose to live your independent life again, leave us.”
I laughed here because I had the image of me being independent, stripping off, diving over the side of the boat into the ocean and swimming off. It is something I have often done in the sea, swimming long distances alone, or off to an island out to sea, by myself. I began to give myself to that great creature which I now understood as the collective unconscious, the unity of lives. It felt as if it was absolving me, much as I had experienced earlier on.”
The alligator is not an external creature, but is a creation of your own mind and fears. It is a living part of you and can be a great and wonderful experience once you face your fears. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#AnimalDream
Tony
I dreamt last night that I was running around a friends construction zone … He does construction and excavation and has done some for us recently during a renovation. I was up on the framing of his building when a baby alligator showed up and bit my hand… I shrugged it off and it continued to chase me and bite my hand….
I had a dream that my husband had a medium size alligator in our home. We had separate beds in our bedroom and one of my female friends and I was sleeping on one bed and my husband on another. I was awake and was scared of the alligator. The alligator got up on the bed that my friend was sleeping on and kind of trampled over her, but did not bite her. The alligator then got down from the bed and chased my dog. At some point my friend, my husband, my dog, and I ran into the bathroom and locked ourselves in. My husband then went out and I think he killed the alligator or got it outside. I can’t remember. I woke up extremely upset at my husband. I was afraid that the alligator might hurt him and upset that he let the alligator in the house. Any insight as to what this dream represents?
Aiyana – I am not very clear about the meaning of your dream, but I think it refers to your feelings about your husband.
If you read the first part of summing up it explains how we use dream symbols – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing
Your female friend is another side of your own personality – one you take to bed with you. To see what part of you it is you need to use http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/association-of-ideas-with-dreams/#Working
It seems that the alligator represents something you do not like about the way he treats you – he walks all over you. He is, in your opinion, trying to change that, but you still feel, deep down, scared.
Tony
I often dream about aligators, but then again, I live in the south and I often work in the swamp (although I rarely get in water above my knees and I rarely see aligators except in ponds and deeper water pockets which I wouldn’t need to walk through anyway).
Usually in my dreams I am floating down a stream or swimming or floating in a pond and encounter aligators passively through the currents of the water. I’ve had them bite me in my dreams, but gently enough that I nudge them off or pry them off without damage. They go on their way and I go on mine. Usually they do not come after me although I’ve had maybe a few dreams where one aligator will be more aggressive. The same could be said about my dreams of sharks, which are another creature I have worked with and in their case swam with dozens of them. Although I can’t think of the sharks ever biting me.
I like aligators and sharks very much.
As we sometimes have continuous dreams that suddenly change scenes without us understanding how, here are 4 parts of my dream:
(1)There was window/TV-like view and in that view, there’s possibly two people in the reptile’s mouth, though I couldn’t be so sure if they were really people. They could be something else, but I thought they were people. for a few seconds I see it, then the animal snaps its mouth shut and retreats into the water
(2) one large one, a few small ones in a room. I’m in that room. There’s an aquarium, the window in (#1), a bed, possibly a drawer/table beside the door, I’m at the door and closing it to escape from the animals, as I close the door slowly, I can peek through the slit that the reptiles, almost white/cream-like in appearance are staring at me. There was somehow a sense of fear in me that they might attack me, but I tried to be calm and careful, thinking that if I was calm enough, they would leave me alone
(3) It seems I was part of a camera crew that videos and captures photos of these reptiles. Some people in the team are serious and very careful about handling this animal while others are being playful, even going into the room in (#2) and almost trying to provoke the animals in a playful manner.
(4) One striking scene in my dream before I woke up is seeing the reptile (not sure if alligator or crocodile) quite closely. Almost exactly like in this picture (though the details of the skin may be different but the view was very similar): http://goo.gl/W8AHDZ
Hope you can enlighten me Thank you!!!
In my dream I was running an obstacle course and I was running and leaping in a murky water part if the course and I was running on what seemed to be a log turned into an alligator and started to eSt me and I woke up when I was halfway eaten by the alligator. So what does this mean?
My partner and I had a huge fight last night. Our relationship of 10 years is now over & one of us is moving out. Anyway, dreamt I was sitting at the waters edge when these many baby crocodiles swim towards me and one almost bite me between my legs. I managed to grab it & toss it away & then awoke from dream. Please help me understand what this means.
I stumbled across this site because I had such an odd alligator dream last night that I felt so wholeheartedly that it could not be shrugged off.
I am trying to conceive, and am actually a day late for my menses. Knowing today was the day that my period would be starting, I went to bed nervous.
In this dream, I was in labor. Out by a lake, or outside somewhere- not sure. The surrounding did not seem so significant. There was medical staff and I pushed, and out came something small. At first it looked like a blood clot, but upon closer look it was an alligator. About two inches or so, covered in blood as I had just given birth to it.
I asked in my dream “Is that it?”, to me it looked so small it could have been a blood clot. I must have been a tad confused as it was an alligator and not a baby, but I don’t remember feeling particularly disappointed or distraught in the dream – just confused. The alligator was in no way aggressive or scary, just a little two-inch thing.
Is there something foretelling about this dream? Perhaps a pregnancy not producing a child? Or is it indicative of my fear of starting my menses and not being pregnant? It feels like it must be something bigger that I am missing. This was not one of those dreams you shrug off! All input greatly appreciated!
Jamie – I have a good feeling about your attempt to conceive.
The thing about a woman’s cycle is that it does strange things to ones dreams, and you can dream the strangest things. So it is not unusual to dream of things that sound or feel upsetting.
Also at first in conception it isn’t a human form but a collection of wonderful cells that change into a reptile and only later into human form. In fact our body carries these evolutionary changes into adult life, for all of us have a reptilian brain and a mammalian brain, on top of which is our human brain. So watch the wonderful process at work as it creates new life.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/
Tony
I was standing on the bank of this huge turquiose lake/beach with my oldest son,and saw something swimming at a rapid speed towards us from about 200 meters into the water.
As it stopped underwater next to the bank,stil submerged….i noticed it was a huge croc/alligator…which turned and swam about 100meters away in line with the bank.
I dived into the water,feeling no fear,and saw the animal rapidly swimming towards me underwater.
As it’s jaw nearly touched my face,i clasped both my hands over it’s jaws,and lifted it up in a vertical position,without any retaliation/struggle from the croc…………then my dream ended
I was about to go for a walk at my local beach, but when I got there the sand flats were rapidly being swallowed by a thick cover of green pond weed. Surprised, I walked over a crumbling decaying log walkway. There was a small clear patch of water and in it I could see a small crocodile swimming fast under the water. It didn’t bother me but I was surprised. Suddenly a huge croc jumped out a tried to grab me on the walkway. I some how managed to jump over the top and move past it. A tall gangly bohemian man appeared. He was walking in front of me through the weeds. I began to feel fear, very nervous about how I would get back to my car when there was a croc there. I told the man about the croc and he kindly walked in front of me. A massive giant croc did indeed raise up out of the water and the man began to fight the croc. Terrified, I knew I couldn’t get back that way. The man was slapping and punching the croc, who was really agile and on the attack. I looked to the right, ran over to another path leading from the green covered beach. I climed the small hill and the tropical green park was in front of me, as well as two more giant highly mobile crocs patrolling for people. I hid, peering out from the overhanging trees, and when it was clear I ran for my car, suddenly even more terrified for my 16 yr old daughter who was in the car listening to music. As I got to the carpark, she was sitting against a log and I screamed at her to get in the car. We did and I remember locking the doors. Then I woke up. Just before morning I had another dream where a massive reptile similar to a t-rex was hunting myself an others through a school.
Kathryn – This seems to be a way you are trying to escape from the hidden dangers in everyday life that you fear. But you must learn the difference between the inner world of dreams and the outer world of everyday life. But in dreams we are nearly always facing ourselves, and what we do is always a virtual reality that we can experiment in and try out all manner of behaviour. Our dream images such as the crocs must therefore not be seen as exterior to you but are ways you create stories about yourself. The following example shows someone breaking through their dream images and seeing what they are really about. See http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/inner-world/
‘In my dream I was watching a fern grow. It was small but opened out very rapidly. As I watched I became aware that the fern was simply an image representing a process occurring within myself which I grew increasingly aware of as I watched. Then I was fully awake in my dream and realised that my dream, perhaps any dream, was an expression of actual and real events occurring in my body and mind. I felt enormous excitement, as if I were witnessing something of great importance.’ Francis P.
So it would be good idea to talk about what you fear and especially the fears you have about your daughter’s safety, and see what you can actually do. This takes it out if the realm of dreams and so is faced and made real.
But remember that in dreams you can never be harmed or die. They are like computer games in which you can kill or be killed and are none the worse. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-us-3/#Hurt
So it is okay and even good not to run from the crocs or T-Rex but fight them. By doing that you are no longer a victim to your fears. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-us-3/#Victims
Tony
I had a dream last night I was standing in some swampy water and an alligator came to attack me. I started to submerge myself into the water and as I did so my left hand turned into and alligator and it made the one chasing me leave me alone. Any ideas?
Goji – Yes, lots of ideas.
First of all in dreams we are all shape shifters and can become anything, and shape, or even leave all shape behind and be a bodiless awareness. That is unless we are convinced that our body is us and we will not be parted from it at any cost. See – http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/inner-world/
But an ever greater trick that we can do in dreams is to become the thing dreamt of – so you could become the other alligator. That is a doorway to wonderful worlds of realisation. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
Tony
I dreamed of myself clibbing a fence and at the bottom where over 100’s of Alligators , Every where I looked . Every step I took was more gators and fear. Then A huge Snake creature came out of no where. I dream alot of alligators lurking around me What does this all mean??
in my dream i was walking ans suddenly found myself in a spot with many crocodiles,they were chasing people,so i stopped and even if i feared them,i decided to walk among them and manage to get across the other side without being bitten
Thank you for publishing this it helped me a great deal. thank you
Dear Tony, Thank you for this page of dream interpretation. My work with the grace of Oneness and an avatar for our awakening over the past five years has brought me to the beginning of Awakening. Lat night I had this dream and your interpretation has confirmed the merging of personal awareness with the collective as cells in the body of Christ or the Divine. Thank you, Namaste, Maggie
Maggie – Thank you, and blessing on your work. Joined in the body of Christ.
Tony